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2008 News
January-March | April-June
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May 13, 2008
Learn about Greenland Field Season
It's field season at Swiss Camp on the Greenland ice sheet, where CIRES Director Konrad Steffen and other researchers study climate change and ice melt. Dan Grossman's documentary Meltdown: Inside Out explores research at Swiss Camp and investigates climate change effects in the Arctic and other parts of the world. Listen, learn online. |
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May 12, 2008
Upward and Outward - New Video for Students
How does the Tibetan Plateau affect climate patterns from the location
of giant dust storms to the timing of monsoons? Follow the scientific
investigation through the eyes of the researchers -- posing questions,
planning investigations, gathering and interpreting evidence. In "Upward
and Outward: Scientific Inquiry on the Tibetan Pleateau," a new 20-minute
teaching documentary by CIRES Outreach, students learn that real
research isn't just done in a beaker; it's messy, creative and fun. The
film aligns with state and national standards on science as inquiry and
is suitable for high school and college science students and general
adult audiences. |
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April 30, 2008
59% Chance of Record Low Arctic Sea Ice in 2008
New calculations by CIRES affiliate Jim Maslanik and CU's Sheldon Drobot indicate the record low minimum extent of sea ice across the Arctic last September has a three-in-five chance of being shattered again in 2008 because of continued warming temperatures and a preponderance of younger, thinner ice. In January 2008, a team led by Maslanik and involving CIRES and NSIDC's Julienne Stroeve concluded there had been a nearly complete loss of the oldest, thickest Arctic sea ice. The team calculated that 58 percent of the remaining Arctic sea ice was thin and more vulnerable to melt. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 24, 2008
Ozone Hole Recovery Will Reshape Climate Change
A full recovery of the stratospheric ozone hole could strongly modify climate change in the Southern Hemisphere and possibly amplify warming of the Antarctic continent, reports a new CU, NOAA, and NASA study led by CIRES' Judith Perlwitz. According to the study, which appears this week in Geophysical Research Letters, ozone depletion -- by affecting atmospheric circulation -- has played an important role in keeping Antarctica's interior cool. A full ozone recovery is expected to reverse these trends. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 24, 2008
Regional monitoring needed for heat-trapping CO2
Monitoring Earth's rising greenhouse gas levels will require a global data collection network 10 times larger than the one currently in place, according to a new research commentary appearing in the April 25 issue of Science by CIRES researcher Malinda Marquis and NOAA's Pieter Tans. While the current observation network can measure CO2 fluxes on a continental scale, charting regional emissions where significant mitigation efforts are underway -- like California, New England and European countries -- requires a more densely populated network, the authors said. Regional measurements are also critical for evaluating carbon offsets and credits. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 23, 2008
First ESRL-CIRES Scholar Announced
Ryan Neely has been selected as the first recipient of the ESRL-CIRES Graduate Research Fellowship. The four-year award, which includes full tuition, a stipend, and other benefits, will allow Neely to earn a Ph.D. at CU-Boulder and simultaneously conduct research with world-renowned scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory. Neely plans to incorporate LIDAR development into his graduate research to study cloud processes and aerosols. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 17, 2008
Cloudy with a Chance of Bacteria? CIRES Announces Nine Innovative Research Program Winners
From measuring the off-gassing of forest fires to investigating whether bacteria affect the weather, award winners of the CIRES Innovative Research Program will explore a variety of unconventional yet important earth science questions. In total, nine research proposals were selected to receive funding in 2008. The projects, which were evaluated for their creativity and novelty, include a mix of field and lab studies, computer modeling, and instrument development. |
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April 16, 2008
Getting a Sense of Greenland Melt
How can we best we monitor the dynamic Greenland ice sheet? Unmanned aircraft might be one answer, CIRES' John Adler told Nature. Remotely-controlled planes could facilitate systematic measurements around the island and help scientists get a better grip on whether Greenland is melting and at what rate, he said. The science journal featured various research programs in Greenland ("Losing Greenland") and also interviewed CIRES Director Konrad Steffen. [ source: Nature ] |
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April 14, 2008
New Fellows Bring New Perspective To CIRES
The Council of Fellows, CIRES’ governing body, has elected two new members: Joost de Gouw and Tinjgun Zhang. De Gouw, who works at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, studies organic carbon in the atmosphere, including its sources, its chemistry, and the processes that govern its transport and eventual breakdown. Zhang hails from CIRES’ National Snow and Ice Data Center where he has conducted research on permafrost and seasonally frozen ground since 1996. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 7, 2008
NSIDC Launches Year-Round Sea Ice Site with Maximum Report
CIRES' National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has launched Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis. The site provides year-round monthly updates on Arctic sea ice conditions; the April 7 entry details maximum sea ice extent and conditions as we enter the melt season. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 2, 2008
CO2 Emission Reduction Assumptions Are Overly Optimistic
Reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide this century is going to be more challenging than society has been led to believe, according to a new research commentary article appearing April 3 in Nature. CIRES Fellow Roger Pielke Jr. is lead author of the article. [ source: News & Events ] |
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April 1, 2008
Chu Wins $1.2 Million To Advance Lidar Technology
CIRES Fellow Xinzhao Chu has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to build a revolutionary lidar that will allow scientists to probe the upper layers of the atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. Chu's MRI lidar will allow scientists to take simultaneous measurements of temperature, wind, clouds and particle pollution at altitudes of 18 to 75 miles above the Earth's surface. [ source: News & Events ] |
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Notable & Quotable
May 12, 2008
Roger Bilham on the Central China Earthquake
The high death toll from Monday's earthquake in China is largely a
result of poor building practices, CIRES' Roger Bilhman told the Rocky
Mountain News ("CU researcher: Massive killer quake to come"). Bilham
talked about future earthquake risks and also noted that many homes in
developing countries are not reinforced to withstand earthquake tremors.
May 2, 2008
What's the Forecast?
Colorado's high country can expect more storms and maybe snow throughout May, CIRES' Klaus Wolter told the Summit Daily News ("Still snowing"). While higher elevations have dodged the dry conditions that often come with La Nina, other areas of Colorado, including the northeastern plains, have not been as lucky.
April 23, 2008
To rain or not to rain
According to the Denver Post ("Scientist's aim: Alter weather"),
"Scientists are monitoring more than 150 weather-modification projects
in 40 countries, including at least 60 in the Western United States. The
projects include wringing additional snow out of clouds for California
hydropower and easing droughts in sub-Saharan Africa." CIRES' Joe Golden
told the Post, "In terms of the stakes, I think we owe it to the
taxpayers to give it our best shot."
April 18, 2008
IPCC strives for timeliness
The IPCC is working to create a more streamlined and timely fifth assessment report by narrowing carbon emissions scenarios to four and by having all working groups (science, impacts, and mitigation) develop their studies in parallel. New procedures will create"a rigorous and deliberate approach, taking the time required," CIRES Fellow Susan Solomon told Science magazine ("IPCC Tunes Up for Its Next Report Aiming for Better, Timely Results"). The IPCC still plans to keep within its six-year timeframe for producing reports.
April 17, 2008
Draining Greenland
"I agree that at present, the lubrication of the ice sheet margins by
meltwater will have a substantial but not catastrophic effect," CIRES Director Konrad Steffen told New Scientist for a story examining how fast lakes on the Greenland ice sheet's surface drain ("Greenland ice lakes drain at speed of Niagara Falls"). Steffen discussed Greenland's
Dead Glacier, which, despite its name, now speeds up by 80% during the summer season.
April 14, 2008
New Building In CIRES' Future?
CU's plans for a state-of-the-art geosciences building are moving forward, reported the Daily Camera ("CU plans $59.5M geosciences building"). If plans to construct the new, green-certified building on east campus are carried through, interdisciplinary groups like CIRES, INSTAAR, and the CU Energy Initiative could share a common space by as soon as 2012.
April 8, 2008
Climate Change Affecting Nitrogen In Rocky Mountain National Park?
Melting glaciers may be releasing more nitrogen in Rocky Mountain National Park, the Denver Post ("Nitrogen affecting Rocky Mtn. park?") reported; and while still far from certain, this could be a sign of global warming's local impact. CIRES' Klaus Wolter told the Post that he has been studying Colorado temperature trends from the 1930s to present day and has found a 3.5 degree Faranheit temperature increase in Colorado's north-central mountains.
April 7, 2008
CIRES Symposium: a Meeting of the Minds
"Presenting all the lure of a speed-dating service for ideas, hundreds of CU researchers gathered last week in search of future collaborations within the scientific community that could lead to more significant and worthwhile findings," reported the Colorado Daily ("Blind Data"). The Daily featured the CIRES' 2008 Rendezvous in its Academic Life section and spoke with several CIRES Outstanding Performance winners about their work.
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